


I'm Just Like You (You're Just Like Me)

by MollyPollyKinz



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Can you tell twins apart?, Fluff and Crack, Found Family, Gen, I can if I know one of them really well, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Roxas has a small identity crisis, Terra is easily decieved, Xion and Namine are buds, it's harder if i only know them each about the same, sorry if this has already been done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27086872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MollyPollyKinz/pseuds/MollyPollyKinz
Summary: It started as an innocent conversation. Axel mentioned that Roxas and Ventus would look exactly the same if they weren't wearing different outfits. It spiraled from there.Roxas and Ventus switch clothing for a day to see what would happen.
Relationships: Aqua & Terra & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Axel & Roxas & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Naminé & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 80





	I'm Just Like You (You're Just Like Me)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if this has already been done, but this idea popped into my head, so I wrote a fic about it.

It started as an innocent conversation.

Everyone was at the beach, and Roxas, Axel, and Ventus were all having a soda. They had just won a game of ultimate frisbee, and the sun was beating down on their foreheads. Sticky sweat ran down Roxas’ face as he took a huge gulp of cold, fizzed soda.

Ten out of ten. Roxas was never settling for plain water again. Why did the Organization not serve better food?

“This feels so good,” Ventus sighed after taking a large gulp of his own soda. He glanced at Axel, who was wearing his black leather religiously. “How do you survive in that outfit?”

Axel shrugged. “You get used to after a while. Besides, nothing is worth ruining my look.”

Roxas snorted. “Nothing? What about that time—”

“Other than that,” Axel said quickly, rolling his eyes.

Ventus perked up. “Other than what?”

Roxas spoke up before Axel could shut him up. “We were hanging out one time, and Axel accidently slipped into a _huge_ mud puddle. He went to the nearest shop and put on the most garish outfit I had ever seen.”

“I was sticky and gross, what else was I supposed to do?” Axel moved his hands around defensively, waving his soda can near Roxas’ face. “Besides, I rocked that floral shirt.”

Ventus burst out laughing. Roxas merely smirked. “You keep telling yourself that.”

Axel groaned, sagging dramatically. “You’re ganging up on me now?” He glanced back and forth between the two of them. “Come on, Roxas, be more sympathetic.”

Roxas pretended to think about it. “I don’t think so.”

Ventus eventually stopped laughing, and Axel rubbed his hair. “You know, without _your_ outfits, I wouldn’t be able to tell you two apart.”

Roxas and Ventus glanced at each other uncomfortably. In all honesty, Roxas was still uncomfortable with someone sharing nearly _all_ of Roxas’ defining features. Sora having his face was bad enough, but Ventus having his face _and_ his hair? It was almost insulting.

“Really?” Roxas asked, “We don’t exactly have the same sunny personality.”

“Not to mention we have different keyblades,” Ventus added. With a _shing_ , he pulled out his keyblade. It looked nothing like Roxas’s two keyblades.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Axel said, “Still, sometimes I wonder if you guys aren’t trying to pull a fast one on me at any given moment.”

Roxas scoffed. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Axel. I’m me, nobody else.”

Roxas hoped those words wouldn’t follow him to his grave. He was sick of them.

At first, that seemed to be the end of it. Still, Roxas couldn’t quite get the idea out of his mind. What if he and Ventus switched outfits and pretended to be each other for a day? What would happen? Probably nothing of substance, but it might be interesting to know how distinct they really were.

As Roxas lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, he wondered if he even wanted to know. What if his friends didn’t notice the change? What if Roxas really were just a copy of two hearts, not his own person? What if _nobody_ notices?

“No,” Roxas told the ceiling firmly, “I’m nothing like Ventus _or_ Sora.”

It was true. Roxas couldn’t imagine being like either of them. They were just too different.

Despite Roxas’ firm declaration, the idea stayed in his head for the following week. Eventually, the thought drove him so insane that he could hardly focus on Hayner and Pence’s heated debate on whether water was wet.

As Roxas walked down the streets of Twiglight town that afternoon, he pulled out his Gummi phone, ready to put this thought to rest.

Ventus’s face appeared on the phone, looking exactly like Roxas. It was exactly like looking into a mirror.

“Hey, Roxas,” Ventus said cheerily, his voice slightly distorted by the phone’s speakers, “What’s up?”

“Remember what Axel said the other day?” Roxas asked, immediately cutting to the chase, “About how we could pose as each other, and nobody would suspect?”

Ventus frowned. “Yeah…but I thought we dismissed that thought.”

Roxas groaned. “Yeah, I know, but I can’t get it out of my head. I just…I want to make sure that my friends can tell the difference.”

Ventus hesitated, his blue eyes not quite focused on the screen. “Alright,” he said eventually, “It would be an interesting experiment.” He smiled. “Besides, imagine Terra’s reaction when he realizes!”

Roxas smiled weakly, trying to ignore the nerves knowing at his stomach. At least he knew they were _real_ nerves, and not ‘fake’ ones made from memories of a nonexistent heart.

The two of them met at the Mysterious Tower and exchanged clothing. Roxas hated how the strange clothing felt on him; Ventus’s armor weighed uncomfortably on Roxas’s shoulder. Oh well, some prices had to be paid for a successful experiment.

“It’s weird not having a weight on my shoulder,” Ventus muttered, glancing back at his left shoulder.

Roxas stared into the mirror in front of him, feeling mildly sick. He hardly believed that the person in the reflection was him and not Ventus.

_Like looking into a mirror._

“So…do we just go out and act natural?” Ventus asked.

Roxas nodded. “Yeah, I’ve seen you interact with Terra and Aqua enough times. It should be fine.”

Xion was reading a book about dolphins when Ventus walked into the room wearing Roxas’ clothing. Xion stifled a giggle with her fist.

“Hello, Ven,” she said, “Why are you wearing Roxas’ outfit?”

Ventus raised his eyebrows, looking at Xion in surprise. “That fast, huh?”

“Yes, it was pretty obvious.” Xion couldn’t explain the inherent differences between Roxas and Ventus. They might look exactly the same, but there was something about how they acted that was completely different.

Ventus relaxed and sat down on the couch next to her with a small thump. “Well, Roxas will be relieved to hear that.”

Xion smiled. “Is he pretending to be you right now?”

Ventus nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know how he’s doing, but I doubt Terra couldn’t be fooled by something if he tried.”

Xion laughed at the idea of Roxas pretending to be Ventus. It just didn’t fit right in her mind, which was probably what made it so laughable. Roxas wasn’t a very good actor, as far as Xion could tell.

Axel walked into the room at that moment, holding a cup of coffee. “Hey guys,” he said.

“Hello, Axel,” Xion said serenely.

“Hey,” Ventus said in a relaxed tone.

Axel peered at Ventus suspiciously, and Xion bit her tongue, willing herself not to laugh. “Are you okay, Roxas?”

Xion could detect faint panic and amusement in Ventus’s eyes, but he outwardly kept a neutral expression.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

Axel frowned. “I don’t know…you look different. Did you do something to your hair?” Axel gestured at his own thick red hair.

Xion let out a choked snort, and Ventus laughed openly. “No, I didn’t do anything to my hair.”

“Okay…” Axel said, sounding unconvinced. He gave Ventus a once over before taking a sip of his coffee. “Maybe I just need to wake up a little more.”

Unable to hold it in anymore, Xion burst out laughing. Ventus laughed with her.

“What?” Axel said immediately, “What is it? Come on, guys. Tell me.”

Xion opened her mouth to tell poor Axel what had happened, but Ventus beat her to it. “I drank coffee this morning,” he lied, “It tasted horrible.”

Xion, who decided that taking pity on Axel could wait, nodded. “Yes.” After a moment of thought, she added, “He spat it out and spilled it all over the table.”

Axel glanced at the table, confused. “I don’t see any spills. Are you trying to trick me?”

Xion was now crying from laughter. Ventus looked like he was struggling to breathe.

“We—cleaned—it,” Ventus said between gasps.

Axel waited patiently for Ventus and Xion to recover themselves. Then, he stared at Ventus again. Understanding dawned in his eyes.

“Oooooh.” He pointed a finger accusingly at Ventus. “You’re Ventus! I can’t believe you tried to trick me like that!”

A single beat. Then, Xion was clinging onto her stomach; her laughter was beginning to hurt.

“You got me,” Ventus admitted after taking some deep breaths. He looked like he was still fighting the battle not to laugh. “I’m Ventus.”

Axel let out a loud sigh of relief. “Man, you nearly had me fooled for a minute there.”

He still sounded mildly insulted at being tricked. Xion giggled and returned to her book. Ventus just let out a contented sigh.

“I wonder what Roxas is doing right now.”

“Hey Ven,” Terra said when Ventus hesitantly entered the kitchen. Terra put down the sandwich he was drinking. Ventus didn’t say anything. “Are you okay?” Terra asked, filling the silence.

Ventus glanced up at Terra like he only just heard him. “Yeah,” he said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

A lie if Terra ever did hear one. And he had heard a good many lies in his lifetime. Still, he decided not to push it. If Aqua deemed it necessary, she could push for the information.

Ventus opened the fridge door and pulled out an apple. That was strange. Ventus didn’t typically eat apples. Something about their texture. And yet, here Ventus was, eating an apple right in front of Terra.

Terra was about to open his mouth and make a very confused comment, but Aqua walked in before he could do anything.

“Hello,” she said cheerfully. She glanced at Ven, and her expression flickered. Then, she smiled.

Uh oh. Terra knew that smile. That was the same smile she made when she gave Terra an Oreo with toothpaste in it. That was the same smile she gave Terra when Terra entered his bedroom to find it plastered in sticky notes.

“Hello Ventus,” she said. She sounded normal, but there was something a little _too_ innocent about her tone.

Terra watched her suspiciously as she loudly pulled a chair back and sat down in it.

“Hi Aqua,” Ventus said after swallowing a bite of his apple.

“Are you enjoying your apple?” Aqua asked, “I didn’t know you liked apples.”

Ventus glanced at Aqua in confusion. “Since when?” He took another loud, crunchy bite.

“Since as long as we’ve known you,” she said, “But taste buds can change. I’m glad that you’re stretching your horizons.”

“Oh, is that what’s he’s doing?” Terra asked, relieved. He wasn’t sure what the alternative was, but Ventus’ strange behavior was making him uneasy.

Ventus nodded quickly. “Yep!” he said, his voice higher pitched than usual, “That is definitely what I was doing.”

Terra glanced at Aqua. That mischievous smile was still on her face. “There’s nothing else I was missing?”

“Nope!” Aqua said cheerfully.

Terra gave them one last suspicious look before pulling himself to his feet. “Well, I’d better get going. Riku wants to talk to me about something.”

Terra couldn’t be prouder of Riku for coming into his own as a keyblade master. Terra wasn’t sure what he could possibly do for Riku, but Riku wanted to talk to him.

Aqua nodded. “Okay, have fun!”

Terra nodded and walked out of the kitchen. The door shut with a click behind him, and Terra could’ve sworn he heard laughter emerging from behind him.

You know what? He didn’t want to know.

When Ventus told Roxas that he had only managed to fool Axel for about two minutes, relief washed over him like a cup of hot chocolate. Roxas was his own person. He _wasn’t_ replaceable.

After that, the game became much more enjoyable.

There were a few set rules that Roxas and Ventus both agreed upon.

  1. They had to tell the others by the end of the day if they didn’t already know.
  2. There had to be at least two days between switches.
  3. They could never switch while searching for Sora or at other worlds.



With the rules in place, the entire tower became much more cautious of Ventus and Roxas. Axel and Xion were pretty assured in their ability to tell Roxas and Ventus apart, so they were less worried. The same went for Aqua.

However, Riku, Terra, Namine, and the others were all on guard. Every so often, Roxas would have a conversation with Riku, and Riku would glance at him suspiciously.

“Summon your keyblade,” he would demand.

Roxas would summon one of his keyblades. If Roxas were just being himself, Riku would nod to himself.

“Just checking,” he would say.

Or, if Roxas were posing as Ventus. Riku would sigh, “Hello, Roxas.”

Terra handled his unsureness in a different way. Instead of demanding they reveal tehir keyblades, he would study Roxas and Ventus carefully. Eight out of ten times, Terra actually could identify the two of them correctly.

Still, once, to throw him off, Roxas told Ventus to eat an apple in Terra’s presence. It worked. Terra immediately started calling Ventus ‘Roxas.’

Unlike Roxas, Ventus was completely unconcerned by Terra’s lack of ability to identify one of his best friends.

“I love Terra,” Ventus said with a shrug, “but he’s easily fooled. Less easily fooled than he used to be, but still pretty easy to fool.”

“If you say so,” Roxas said, still feeling immensely relieved that Axel and Xion could tell when they switched every time.

Namine didn’t exactly care. As a matter of fact, she just made it a mini game for herself to guess at random times who was who. She tended to notice when Ventus was Roxas more often than when Roxas were Ventus.

After a day where Roxas and Ventus switched, there would be a calm in the tower for the two days after. After two days, however, everyone was on guard again.

One day, however, Roxas was relaxing when Xion walked into the lounge, looking somewhat stiff.

“Hey Xion,” he said, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said. Her voice sounded…weird.

“Are you sick?” Roxas pressed, “Your voice sounds weird.”

Xion shook her head. “I’m not sick,” she promised.

Roxas squinted at her, determined to find out what the problem was. Her hair looked puffier than usual, but that could just mean that she slept funny.

Still, there was a nagging feeling…

“Namine?” Roxas asked, realization washing over him.

Namine smiled sheepishly. “How’d I do?”

“Pretty good,” Roxas admitted, “Are you wearing a wig?”

Namine nodded. “We bought them at a store together. We figured that if you and Ventus could try to fool everyone, so could me and Xion. Axel took a little longer than you to figure out.”

Riku and Aqua were the only ones to notice Namine was actually Xion. Ventus and Terra remained completely oblivious the entire time.

“When Kairi wakes up and Sora comes back,” Namine said to Ventus, Xion, and Roxas one day, “All three of us should switch. That way, the others not only have to figure out that we’re not who we’re pretending to be, but they also have to figure out who we actually are.”

Roxas laughed. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

It would always bother him that Roxas shared a face with two other people, but Roxas found that it didn’t bother him as much as it used to. He was a different person behind all that, and his friends knew it.

Roxas was Roxas, nobody else.

**Author's Note:**

> In the end, Terra looked up 'how to identify twins' on his Gummi phone for help.


End file.
